I write what I see

Andaleeb Wajid from a very small age was always interested in telling stories. She would not just pen down the stories but also tell. She started writing the stories because she realised the love for writing them. It's been a long time now since she is writing. In 2009 her first novel got published. She says, “It has been ten years now, I have published 18 novels till now. It has been a frustrating and enriching journey. You learn new things in each book, I have managed to live different lives with different characters."

She got married when she was still in college, so she finished her college one year after her marriage and she was blessed with a son. She told, "I did not really get into writing with him and I think when I was pregnant with him, I was bored and frustrated, it seemed very long for me. So, I started writing stories then."

She sends one of her stories to Deccan Herald which is in Karnataka. There was a children supplement and she happened to send the story and forgot about it. The story was published after her son’s birth.

The journey started with writing stories for children and then moved on to writing short stories for adults and older people. The idea of the novel was seeded in 2004, it took almost two years to write that book. Now she can write a novel in two months. She remembers, "So, at that time it took me longer to write and get the book published. Once it was published, I thought that this is what I wanted to do, and then I quit my job as a technical writer and focused on writing."

Andaleeb's family is very happy and proud of her. She was accompanied by her mother in Hyderabad for the Hyderabad Literary Festival and she was in high spirits.

As her kids are grown up now, she easily manages her day and can concentrate on writing. She proudly says, "My older son is in college second and my younger son is in the sixth standard. My mother-in-law has also been very supportive."

Last year she had five novels to her credit. She explained, "The first was a short novel was also interesting ‘Night at the Warehouse’ and I like my other book ‘Twenty-Nine Going On Thirty’, which was published by Penguin. The had a chicklet sought of the novel which had young women. It was ironically published right the month that I turned 40.

After that, I wrote books for children, in May I had a book for children called ‘The Legend of the Wolf’ by The Speaking Tiger was released in May last year. In October it was ‘House of Screams’ that was again published by Penguin. And the year was wonderful I think for me."

Sharing her experience about Hyderabad she said, "It has been wonderful I have been here twice. We have relatives here and I usually come here for weddings and this is the first non-wedding visit. It’s a great city and Charminar is magnificent as always."

When asked how does she write horror and romantic books, she laughed and responded, “Why not? After some time, romance becomes a horror. It is my standard response."

When enquired about the women-oriented books which she has written, she happily said, "I find it easy to write about women. I write about women as I see them, people have the idea about Muslim women being oppressed which is not the case. Everyone has got limitations and faces them at different levels.” “So, I try to write about women as I have seen and experienced my own life as a Muslim woman ,” she added.